First insights on catalysing interdisciplinary collaboration in a university context: An example on Tactile Internet research

A growing interest in interdisciplinary research can be observed throughout the past decades. Previous work has provided general principles for facilitating collaborative work in academia, but direct interdisciplinary experiences are quite rare in the literature. In this article, we provide our insights on executing interdisciplinary research in a university context. First, we outline how the university structure and the variety of disciplines involved in the research team shaped our interdisciplinary work. Then, we discuss our direct experience with a key step-stone in conducting interdisciplinary research: forge shared common goals. Lastly, we discuss how the involved research disciplines bene?ted from the interdisciplinary discussions and projects, describing some of the outcomes achieved. Throughout the article, we elaborate the lessons we have learned along the way. This paper has implications for researchers and institutions approaching interdisciplinary endeavours. It can hopefully help them navigate through the challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration.